''Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania'' is a 2002

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developed by

Blue Fang Games Blue Fang Games, LLC was an American video game developer. Founded in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1998, they achieved commercial success with their first title ''Zoo Tycoon'' on Microsoft Windows, Windows and Macintosh. They went on to develop a s ...

and published by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

for the 2001

simulation video game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

Zoo Tycoon ''Zoo Tycoon'' is a series of business simulation video games in which the player is tasked with building and running a successful zoo. The series was initially developed by Blue Fang Games and published by Microsoft Studios who later in 2001 ...

''. ''Marine Mania'' adds marine animals and exhibits to the game, allowing players to add aquatic shows to their park. Upon release, ''Marine Mania'' received average reviews, with praise for the variety of new animals, objects and show features, but criticism for the lack of additions that altered the core gameplay. An expansion with an identical name and theme, '' Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania'', was released in 2006.

Gameplay

''Marine Mania'' adds the ability to create aquatic enclosures to display 20 new marine animals, including dolphins, sperm whales, and orcas. Marine enclosures are created by building above-ground tanks, which can be vertically adjusted to increase the depth of water in which the animals can swim. These tanks allow guests to view the animals from the side while they swim underwater, as opposed to simply viewing them from above the surface. Similarly to land animals, marine animals must be kept happy by providing the right balance of additions to their habitats, including a new range of aquatic flora. An added feature in ''Marine Mania'' is the ability to hold Aquatic Shows where certain marine animals such as orcas, sea otters, bottlenose dolphins, and sea lions can perform tricks for visitors in shows held at customizable intervals. Creating shows requires the player to attach special show tanks to animal habitats and place grandstands in proximity to the tanks. Shows can be customized by players to increase visitor happiness and income by adjusting the number and sequence of tricks in a show and placing toys inside the show tank for new tricks. Maintenance of animal needs and performance of shows is handled by a new type of hireable employee, the marine specialist, who fills a role analogous to that of the zookeeper in the original game and the scientist in the '' Dinosaur Digs'' expansion. ''Marine Mania'' also adds ten new scenarios, new decorative objects and amenities for players to place in their park, and minor gameplay changes, including the ability to pick up and manually move park guests.

Development and release

''Marine Mania'' was announced by Microsoft in mid-2002, with a planned release date of 18 October. ''Marine Mania'' was billed as a "double expansion pack", as it also includes the content of the previous expansion, ''Dinosaur Digs''. In 2003, ''Marine Mania'' was packaged alongside ''Dinosaur Digs'' and the base game as part of a re-release titled ''Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection''.

Reception

Sales

In December 2002, ''Marine Mania'' peaked in ninth place on NPD monthly sales charts, joined by the base game ''Zoo Tycoon'' in fifth place. At the time of its release in October 2002, sales for the base game passed a milestone of one million units sold.

Reviews

''Marine Mania'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to

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. Several critics praised the value of a double expansion pack containing the ''Dinosaur Digs'' content. Describing the game as a "decent expansion pack", Carla Harker for ''GameSpy'' enjoyed the new objects and scenarios, highlighting the marine shows as "one of the best improvements" to the game, although found the animations to be "poorly done" and unsatisfying. ''GameZone'' commended the game for adding a "fun element that was missing from the original", citing the aquatic displays, the colourful designs on the new attractions and landscapes, and the new set of animals. Eddie Park of ''Inside Mac Games'' found the game to add a "wealth of content", expressing that the shows and performances were "fun" and added "variety and enjoyment" to the game, but noted the game lacked innovations in its graphics and had few additions in terms of core gameplay. Andrew Park of ''GameSpot'' said the game contained problems similar to the original game, including its "unimpressive presentation" and "largely unchanged gameplay", critiquing the shows as unstimulating, but found some of the later scenarios were engaging. Elizabeth McAdams of ''Computer Gaming World'' found the game's difficulty to be "practically nonexistent" and that it failed to revitalize the original game.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2002 video games Blue Fang Games games MacOS games Microsoft games Single-player video games Video games about animals Video games developed in the United States Video games set in zoos Video game expansion packs Video games with isometric graphics Windows games Zoo Tycoon